'Mank' leads Oscar nominations in a year of record diversity

After a pandemic year that shuttered movie theaters and upended the movie business, Academy Awards nominations on March 15 went to two female filmmakers for the first time, to a historically diverse slate of actors and to David Fincher's lead-nominee "Mank," a traditional kind of Oscar contender, an old Hollywood homage, in very untraditional year.

Fincher's "Mank," a black-and-white, period drama about "Citizen Kane" screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, easily topped nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards, delayed two months by the coronavirus pandemic, with 10 nominations, including best picture, best director, acting nods for Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried, and a host of others for its lavish craft.

Nominations were spread among a wide variety of contenders. Six films, all of them also up for best picture, score six nods: "Judas and the Black Messiah," "Nomadland," "Minari," "Sound of Metal," "The Trial of the Chicago 7" and "The Father." Also nominated for best picture was Emerald Fennell's "Promising Young Woman."

History was made in the best director category. Only five women have ever been nominated before. For the first time, two were this year. Chloe Zhao got a nod for her elegiac road-trip drama "Nomadland" alongside first-time feature filmmaker Fennell for her pitch black #MeToo revenge comedy. "Never going to stop crying," Fennell, also nominated for best screenplay, said on Twitter.

Zhao, the first woman of color nominated for best director, is the most nominated woman in a single year in Oscar history. She was also tipped for the film's adapted screenplay, editing and as a producer in the best picture category. The other directing nominees were Lee Isaac Chung for the tender family drama "Minari," Fincher for "Mank" and...